









"v^^\/^ "V^'^^V "v^^*\/ "% 
















^"•^<^. 












•V 






^0^ 









-^c 












> o 


















\ 



o 



- "^^ 









-^^ 










«^,. 






^^ 






6 • " • •» ^ A* 














C'30l 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS 



■OF — 



WILLIAM CANNON 



DELIVERED AT DOVER, 



UPON TAKING THE OATH OF OFFICE AS 



Governor of the State of Delaware. 



JANUARY 20, 1863. 




AJjum-V^JL- %^1 






WILMINGTON : 



PKINTED BY HENRY ECKEL, 

South East Corner of Fifth and Market Streets. 



1863. 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 



Senators and Repreeentatives, 

Fellow Citizens : 

In assuming the office of the Chief Executive 
of the State, custom requires that I shall address you. 

In ordinary times, the functions of the Governor 
being- limited to the performance of the usual duties 
specifically imposed by the Constitution, the occasion 
of inauguration commonly affords a narrow compass 
for remarks, and is chiefly interesting, as presenting 
an illustration of the sovereignty of the people, 
effecting a change of rulers by the peaceful decision 
of the ballot-box instead of the forcible arbitrament 
of the sword. 

Invested with no part of the Legislative power, the 
Executive has no direct agency in the enactment of 
the laws, and, even when giving information to the 
General Assembly and recommending measures expe- 
dient for the State, as enjoined by the Constitution, 
is generally confined to the recommendation of sta- 
tutory changes in unimportant particulars, and very 
much of the actual legislation has been of merely 
local and individual interest. 

Such being the situation of our municipal afiairs, 
were it not for the disturbed condition of the nation, 
I might here conclude this inaugural, with the mere 
announcement that in the execution of my office, I 



■would faithfully and to the hest of my ahility dis- 
charge the simple duties devolved upon me by the 
Constitution and Laws of this State. 

But it is manifest that the obligation to support 
the Constitution of the United States, creates other 
responsibilities and may impose on me the perform- 
ance of other duties, than such as are ordinarily 
incident to the relation which I am about to assume. 

In this crisis, it behooves every private citizen, 
much more every public functionary, to maintain an 
undeviating loyalty to the National Government, and 
I am unwilling to permit this first occasion to pass, 
without declaring my determination, to the extent of 
the powers with which I am invested, to support the 
Government of the United States. 

The events of the past two years are unnecessary 
to be specially recounted. A gigantic rebellion 
threatens to destroy the nation. Incepted by fraud 
and consummated by oppression, it stands unparallel- 
ed in wickedness. 

Revolutions have occurred on the part of those ex- 
cluded from the conduct ol' public affairs or aggrieved 
by their administration, but this is the first instance 
of an attempt to overthrow a Government by those 
who were, at the same time, its lawful administrators 
■and the chief recipients of its bounty. 

It is true that their action is claimed to be based 
on the right of a State to secede from a compact be- 
tween sovereignties. I know that the doctrine of 
secession is apparently disclaimed in this State, either 
as a right or as a remedy for existing evils, but I am 
also aware that the dogma of State-Rights, so called, 
is sedulously inculcated and pressed to an extent 
which, if true, though it may not wholly justify the 
revolting States, renders it difficult to find the ground 
of condemnation. 

The public mind is, to a considerable degree, im- 
bued with this theory, and though it finds its devel- 



opement mainly in partizan strictures, has, more than 
anything else, tended to keep a large body of our 
citizens aloof from active co-operation with the Gov- 
ernment, in the suppression of rebellion. 

Many persons, well informed and well affected 
towards the Union, cannot understand why a State 
has not the right to determine her own political 
status, and though many, startled at the legitimate 
consequence of this dogma, have, upon a review, 
surrendered their former opinions; others equally 
honest, retain them, to their own embarrassment and 
the encouragement of those really in sympathy with 
the enemies of the United States. 

This induces me briefly to consider the true rela- 
tion between the State and National Governments, 
and this with the more freedom, that the last message 
of my predecessor, assuming the Constitution of the 
United States to be a mere compact between States, 
in my judgment, is calculated to confirm the politi- 
cal heresy that constitutes the very corner stone of 
the rebellion. 

The Union is older than the Constitution. The 
thirteen colonies were governed by their own assem- 
blies before the Revolution. They entered into the 
struggle, dependent colonies of Great Britain — they 
emerged, separate and independent States, as related 
to the mother-country, but tied together by a bond of 
Union as between themselves and their people. 

This Union was cemented more closely by the 
Articles of Confederation, and, finally, to remedy 
the defects of that system and " to form a more per- 
fect Union" the Constitution was adopted. 

The capital weakness of the Confederacy consisted 
in the fact that Congress was, mainly, a merely re- 
commendatory body, possessing no power of enforce- 
ment except against the States in their sovereign 
character. 

If, for example, Congress determined that a tax 



6 

should be levied, it indicated to the States respective- 
ly, the amount to he paid hy each, hut the raising of 
the sum was left to the State itself — if, engaged in 
war and troops were to he levied, the quota of each 
State was determined by Congress, but whether they 
were raised depended upon the action of the State, so 
that, in either case, if it neglected or refused, there 
was no remedy except a resort to force against the 
delinquent State. • 

By the adoption of the- Constitution this defect 
was remedied. In the place of a Confederacy, a 
Government was created, limited in the sphere of its 
action and as to the subjects ol its powers, bat within 
that sphere and over those subjects, supreme. 

It no longer operated on or through independent, 
political organizatioiis, but directly on individuals. 
It possessed a separate and often exclusive sovereign- 
ty, with Legislative, Judicial and Executive power 
inherent in itself and, by means of its own depart- 
ments, capable of declaring, interpreting and execut- 
ing its own will. The creation of this Government, 
in nowise destroyed the States. They still retained 
their separate existence and their sovereignty except 
so far as it was diminished by the grant to the Gov- 
ernment of the United States. The same people 
composed both. They recognized the necessity of a 
National Government, possessed of greater strength 
and capable of securing respect abroad and concord 
at home. 

They, therefore, communicated to it the powers 
necessary to the general safety and tranquility. 

This left in the State Governments the great resi- 
duum, proper for the management of their own domes- 
tic concerns. The title to land — the transmission of 
estates — the personal security of the citizen at home 
— the domestic relations — in fine, the numberless 
subjects of municipal regulation are all left to the 
control of the States. 



This distribution necessarily involved correlative 
duties and obligations. The citizen became the sub- 
ject of two Grovernments — owing allegiance to two 
separate sovereignties — he was, at ihe same time, a 
citizen of the United States and of the State of 
Delaware. 

In case each kept within its appropriate sphere, no 
collision could ensue ; but, as each had its own legis- 
lative, judicial and executive administrators, it was 
foreseen that questions of jurisdiction would neces- 
sarily arise, and that the State and National Govern- 
ments might differ. 

Notwithstanding the attribute of sovereignty 
deducible from the possession of powers necessarily 
importing it, the Constitution specially ordained that 
" This Constitution and the laws of the United States, 
"which shall be made in pursuance thereof, -^ -^ ^ ^ 
"shall be the supreme law of the land and the judges 
"in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in 
"the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary 
"notwithstanding." 

This declaration, conferring not only sovereignty 
but supremacy, indicates that the relation which the 
National Government bears to the citizen is higher 
than that of the State. It announces that his prim- 
ary allegiance is due to the Nation and, in case of 
conflict, his obligation is first to obey the Government 
and defend the Flag of the United States. 

It is an obligation from which no State Legislature 
— State Convention or other State authority whatso- 
ever can absolve him. The claim of the United 
States is paramount — its jurisdiction supreme — his 
allegiance is personal, his liability, individual — it 
issues its mandates to him as a subject, and executes 
its sentence against him as a man. 

This furnishes the answer to the sophism that the 
suppression of rebellion is the coercion of a State. 
The force employed by the Government is not levelled 



8" 

at States in their sovereign character but against the 
individuals engaged in forcible resistance to its au- 
thority. When the United States convicts and pun- 
ishes a criminal, for robbing the mail or counterfeiting 
the currency, she does not inquire v^^hether he is a 
citizen of Dela^^are or New Hampshire, but takes 
cognizance of him as a person amenable to her origi- 
nal jurisdiction. These pretended ordinances of se- 
cession, are legal nullities. Having the semblance 
of authority, they possess no other or higher validity, 
as against the United States, than would have been 
conferred by any voluntary assemblage of individu- 
als. The only sanction they can claim is from the 
force of arms. If the rebellious government at 
Richmond can maintain its position, the insurgents 
will have accomplished a Revolution not only 
against the Government, but against the principles 
upon which it is founded. The contest, on their part, 
is against the right of the people to govern them- 
selves. A resort to arms against the decision of the 
ballot-box. The title to their sovereignty will be 
found, not in any State enactment or Convention 
Ordinance, but in their successful resistance to the 
powers of the United States. 

By this complex arrangement in the creation of 
two sovereignties, opposing forces were brought in 
operation. The problem was presented whether the 
centripetal or centrifugal force would predominate or 
whether, with powers duly adjusted, each Government 
would be kept moving in its proper orbit. 

The nature ol the State Governments — the imme- 
diate protection afforded by them to the citizens — his 
everyday interests secured by their legislation and 
decided by their judicial tribunals — the great fact 
that they were the direct source of personal aggran- 
dizement—the election of Representatives practically 
by their people and of Senators of the United States, 
by their Legislatures, conspired to keep alive a sense 



9 

of their benefit, while the influence of the National 
Government, thon^h far more efiioacions in contribu- 
ting to his security, was lost sight of by the citizen, 
because removed from the sphere of his immediate 
observation. 

Like as the laws of attraction and gravitation, 
whose unseen operations keep the Universe together, 
are less regarded than the summer showers visible in 
the crops that fill the granaries of the husbandman. 

Counteracting this tendency to disintegration was 
the rapid advance of facilities for travel and transpor- 
tation and, notwithstanding the immense increase of 
territory and population, the extremities of the Union 
are less distant from the heart, in the great commer- 
cial depots of the country, than when we emerged 
from the Revolution. 

Though retarded, the antagonizing quality of State 
Rights soon became manifest, and found its first 
practical development in the announcement of the 
right of a State to nuUiiy an act of Congress when- 
ever it appeared oppressive or unconstitutional. This 
political heresy, though falling far short of the mon- 
strous pretence of the right of secession, was sup- 
pressed by the vigorous Proclamation of Andrew 
Jackson, and, though politically opposed to his Ad- 
ministration, the State of Delaware cordially endorsed 
the views of the President and announced her deter- 
mination to support him in the rigid enforcement of 
the laws. 

For the time, the malcontents were awed into sub- 
mission, but ever since there has not been wanting 
an influential class of public men in the South, who 
have persistently addressed themselves to the disrup- 
tion of the Union. 

The fact that the departments of the Government 
were almost wholly filled by Southern incumbents, 
prevented concurrence among themselves, and the 
old Government was still dear to a very large body 



^^l!(^r? 



10 

of the people, to whom the establishment of the new 
Confederacy promised no especial advantage, but 
whose co-operation was necessary to the accomplish- 
ment of their purpose. 

The gradual increase of population, under the law 
of the Almighty that a community based upon free 
labor will outstrip a society founded upon unpaid toil, 
transferred the political power from the South and 
her politicians were not slow to recognize that, in the 
future, they would be deprived of the engrossment 
of the administration of the Government and the 
emoluments of official patronage. 

This, — the glory of the Constitution — the working 
out of the blessings it was designed to secure — the 
establishment of great States — the extension of free 
institntions — the development of the resources of the 
country — was made the occasion for the agreement 
of the one class in compassing the destruction of the 
Republic. 

Unfortunately, an instrument was at hand suffi- 
ciently potent to array the other against the Govern- 
ment. This engine of mischief was African slavery. 
Without it the rebellion could never have been con- 
summated. 

By charging that the North was unfriendly to the 
continuance of a domestic institution, in which 
many were pecuniarly interested, the conspirators 
induced the belief that the triumph ol' the free States 
was the prelude to its destruction. 

By representing that the political power had de- 
parted from the South, they exhibited her as in a 
state of political bondage and that, thenceforth, not 
only their national, but domestic policy, would be 
subject to the control of a northern majority. By 
stigmatizing the dominant party, by which they in- 
tended the nopthern people, as amalgainationists, 
they impressed the multitude with the conviction 
that the negro would be elevated to the social level 



11 

of the white man and invested with all the rights 
and privileges of the citizen. 

Emissaries were sent to the loyal slave Sta.tes to 
secure their co-operation and for the first time, in the 
legislative halls of the State of Delaware, was heard 
a plea for treason. 

Eqnally proof against appeals to her prejudice as 
a slave State and to the suggestion of interest as the 
future manufacturer for the new Confederacy, she 
stood firm in her devotion to the Union, and her an- 
swer to the invitation of secession, is the presence of 
four Regiments of her patriotic sons, armed in de- 
fence of the Repuhlic. 

It will he perceived that these alleged causes of 
dissolution \vere purely speculative. 

Even the Fugitive Slave Law, the fertile source of 
crimination, had, in the main, heen faithfully exe- 
cuted. To prove this, the testimony of President 
Buchanan in his last message is ample. 

That the sentiment of the Northern people is op- 
posed to slavery is true, were it otherwise it would 
he the condemnation of their own free institutions. 
That, as private individuals, they would take no part 
in the capture of a fugitive, is also true. Even in 
the South a negro-catcher is held in low repute. 
The fiict that, despite of this settled Northern senti- 
ment, the fugitive slave law " was executed in every 
contested case," evinces* a law-ahiding character, 
which, it is submitted, the South would have done 
well to have imitated. 

So of Personal Liberty Bills. For the most part, 
these were ancient statutes, passed long before the 
enactment which it was alleged they were designed 
to obstruct and had lain buried in the mass of obso- 
lete and inoperate legislation. As practical mea- 
sures they were mainly useless. Their significance 
rested in the fact that they were evidence of a jeal* 
ous vigilance over the rights of freemen. 



12 

If they were justly liable to the charge of uncon- 
stitutionality, the Supreme Court of the United 
States was open and it could not be averred that the 
Judges were hostile to slavery. 

The failure to subject them to this test argues 
either that the conspirators had no confidence in 
their illegality or that they preferred them to remain, 
as materials of agitation, to accomplish a purpose 
far different from the faithful execution of the Fugi- 
tive Slave Law. 

But it is also remarkable that the States most ob- 
noxious to censure for their enactment and those most 
violent in their denunciations, were States, into wbich 
a fugitive rarely entered and from which one, almost 
as rarely escaped. Out of a slave population of 1798, 
loyal Delaware, in the decade between 1850 and 
1860, lost twelve, one to one huudred and fifty, while 
South Carolina, with an aggregate of 384,984, in the 
same period lost but twenty-three, one to seventeen 
thousand five hundred and one. 

So the arraignment of the Northern Press. That 
it contained articles too often intemperate in the 
condemnation of slavery and calculated to irritate 
the Southern people is admitted, but it is equally true 
that their own organs were none the less blameful. 
They abounded in disquisitions laudatory of their 
peculiar institutions, vituperative of Northern cus- 
toms and stigmatic of Northern labor. 

All this was the necessary result of that liberty of 
speech inseparable from free government. 

With this however, the Government of the United 
States had nothing to do. By no act of omission or 
commission had it interfered with the rights of the 
South. The citadel of slavery was never so strongly 
fortified as at the commencement of the rebellion. 

The root of the evil was not the fear of abolition. 
The dissolution of the Union removed one of the 
safeguards of slavery. 



1 



9 



If, in the progress of events, the nations of the 
earth shall, in the development of the aptitnde of 
other soils, free themselves from dependence on the 
great staple of the South, and if, in working out the 
salvation of the Republic, slavery shall be crushed 
between the upper and the nether mill stone, it will 
be the fault of those who have employed them as 
instrumentalities of treason. , 

In the crisis thus torced upon the country, the ad- 
ministration had no option but to resist the destruc- 
tion of the Government. Casuists may dispute ; 
moralists may condemn, but this war, on the part of 
the nation, was the necessary resistance against 
death. 

Terrible as war may be, there is something still 
more afflicting. The spectacle of a mighty people 
supinely yielding to the first symptom of disease and 
lapsing without a struggle into dissolution. The na- 
tural body yields only when it has become so enfee- 
bled or corrupted as to be incapable of effort, and the 
Government that perishes without resistance is not 
worth preserving. 

As the war was unavoidable, so it was necessary 
that it should be conducted on a scale commensurate 
with the magnitude of the interests involved in the 
issue. The National life was at stake, the National" 
resources were the pledge of its safety. 

The expenditures have been met, hitherto, by the 
voluntary contributions of the people and so skilfully 
have the finances been managed and so unimpaired 
is the public confidence, that it is easier to obtain 
money on the faith of Government securities now, 
than at the commencement of the rebellion. Nor is 
this wonderful. All that we are or hope to be is in- 
volved in the Union. Founded to insure domestic tran- 
quility and provide for the common defence, it is as 
necessary now, as when its foundation stones were 
laid by the wisdom and cemented by the blood of our 



14 

fathers. Leagues of amity are idle theories. Griev- 
ances, that would be borne or redressed within the 
Union, would be intolerable without it. With Gov- 
ernments, as with families, proximity begets contro- 
versy. The most frequent and desolating wars are 
between neighboring nations. The farther removed 
from one another, the greater the probability of 
friendship. Of all foreign powers Russia is the most 
distant and our most constant ally. The Union is 
our only safeguard. There is no interest to which it 
is not essential — no section to which it is not indis- 
pensable. Even slavery, the miserable apology for 
its destruction, finds its only refuge in the compro- 
mises of the constitution. 

In this struggle for national existence, it is peculiar- 
ly gratifying to refer to the Union sentiment of the 
State of Delaware. Comparatively feeble in her re- 
sources, embarrassed by her border location and 
thwarted by the presence of an existing sympathy 
■with the people of the revolting States, that hindered 
the progress of enlistment, the State of Delaware, ex- 
hibits a proportion of troops alike creditable to herself 
and useful to the Republic. The fields of Antietam 
and Fredericksburg attest their constancy and their 
coura2:e. 

Many have been struck down in the battle — many 
have perished by the ordinary casualties of the camp 
and the march. 

Those who have fallen, should be hallowed in 
memory as brave men and true patriots, who died for 
their country. 

Those who live, demand our active sympathy. The 
State owes to them a debt of gratitude which, as yet, 
she has taken no steps to discharge. It becomes us, 
who enjoy the comforts of home by their sacrifices 
and to whom security is guarantied by their perils, to 
take care that suitable provision be made for the wel- 
fare of themselves and their families, and while pri- 



io 

vate citizens are contributing from tlieir bounty, I 
recommend that the General Assembly shall appro- 
priate such sum as may comport with the honor of 
the State, and adopt suitable measures for its distri- 
bution. Especially do I commend to your considera- 
tion the sick and wounded, scattered in the various 
hospitals provided by the Government. In this 
emergency, it is impossible that all can be tenderly 
cared for by the nation. Our own regiments are the 
members of our own families — the children of the 
State. I earnestly advise that an agent be appointed 
in its behalf, to look after their welfare and that suf- 
ficient funds be placed at his disposal to ensure their 
comfort. 

Two matters present themselves, to which I would 
not advert, had they not been made subjects of pub- 
lic comment. 

The presence of troops at various voting places on 
the day of the general election has been deemed 
worthy of animadversion. 

Apprehensions of violence, apparently well-ground- 
ed, induced citizens of this State to desire a military 
force to preserve the public peace and suppress any 
manifestation of riot. 

They were accompanied by an officer of high grade 
and, in tlieir distribution, were placed under the im- 
mediate control of citizens of prudence and discretion. 
They were designed, and used, as a police force for 
the protection of peaceable citizens, without regard 
to their political opinions. In no case did they inter- 
fere with the exercise of the right of suffrage by any 
voter and, m all respects, their presence was salutary 
in securing good order and preventing probable col- 
lision among oar own people. 

The measure, in my judgment, was eminently pru- 
dent, and as it is my purpose to support the Govern- 
ment to the extremity of my power, I shall have no 
hesitancy, ghould an emergency occur, which, how- 



16 

ever, I do not apprehend, in asking its assistance for 
the prevention or suppression of domestic violence. 

It has also been urged, with considerable acrimony, 
that citizens of the State of Delaware have been ar- 
rested by the General Government or by persons pre- 
tending to act under its authority. 

How much of this apparent zeal for personal liberty 
is attributable to a sincere desire to vindicate the 
rights of the citizen and how much to political oppo- 
sition to the administration, cannot of course be ac- 
curately discerned. 

It is not alleged that undue violence was used 
towards any one, or that he was subjected to any in- 
dignity other thtiU a brief imprisonment. That such 
arrests should have been deemed necessary, is cer- 
tainly to be regretted. 

The liberty of the citizen cannot be too highly re- 
garded or too sedulously protected. But it should 
be borne in mind that the safety of the Government 
is of more worth than the liberty or even the life of 
any citizen and that those entrusted with its preserva- 
tion are bound to tee, that, by no want of vigilance on 
their part, the Republic shall suffer any detriment. 
Nor should it be forgotten that, by a little timely 
precaution, an eruption may be prevented, which, suf- 
fered to break out, can be suppressed only by the 
lives of many citizens. 

That irregularities will occur in periods of disquiet 
and especially when the Government, embarrassed 
with complications, is compelled to trust to the 
fidelity and intelligence of numberless agents, is un- 
avoidable, and I submit that it is the part of a loyal 
citizen to bear, with patience, some inconvenience or 
even deprivation. 

If innocent, he might attribute his suffering to mis- 
apprehension or even private malice, rather than to 
the intentional oppression of his Government. 

But that there has existed, in this State, from the 



17 

beginning, an element of disloyalty, is unquestion- 
able. That it has been manifested openly, mainly 
in the expressions of men of slight consideration is 
true, but that this development was the index of an 
underlying sentiment in those of higher social position 
is also true. 

Could the recesses of the heart be laid open and 
the secret actions and sympathies of men be exposed, 
it would, I apprehend, be made manifest, that, in so 
far at least as the State of Delaware is concerned, 
the Government has been characterized, not by undue 
severity, but exceeding leniency, and that no man has 
been molested, who was not actually disloyal or 
against whom there did not exist reasonable ground 
of suspicion. 

Had a strict inquisition been established, it might 
have been discovered that those who have been ar- 
rested were not the only ones obnoxious to censure, 
and had mere justice been meted out, some who have 
continued at large, denouncing the Government, 
might have been properly dealt with, not only as 
sympathizers, but actual partakers in treason. 

It is my duty, also, to express my view in relation 
to the interest of the State of Delaware. 

Connected with the Southern States by identity of 
domestic institutions and, therefore, in some degree, 
attracted towards them by educational bias, we are 
nevertheless indissolubly tied to the free States by 
the stronger cords of geographical position and com- 
mercial necessity. 

Essentially an agricultural people, we find in the 
North the market for all we sell and the mart from 
which we are supplied with all we buy. 

The increase of population by immigration, is al- 
most wholly derived from that quarter and, in the 
sale of our real estate, for anything more than the 
mere neighborhood price, we look for purchasers 
wholly from that direction. Advertisements are 

3 



13 

never inserted in Southern newspapers to attract bid- 
ders and for whatever improvement has been effected 
in the cultivation of the soil, we are indebted mainly 
to northern enterprise. 

To the State of Delaware, a Southern Confederacy, 
if established, must be a foreign nation. We cannot 
unite with it and, in preparing for whatever contin- 
gency the future may present of Union or separation, 
it becomes our duty as well as our interest, to assimi- 
late as rapidly as possible with those, with whom, 
from necessity, if not from choice, we are compelled 
to associate. 

The only difference between us and the State of 
Pennsylvania, with which our relations of trade and 
intercourse are closest, is the existence of African 
slavery, and to it alone is to be ascribed whatever of 
doubt was created as to the loyalty of our people, and 
whatever of sympathy really existed among us in 
favor of rebellion. 

Originally forming a portion of the same provincial 
government, from our failure to imitate her laudable 
example of emancipation, we have lagged in the 
march of material improvement ; but not even the dif- 
ference of domestic institutions can thwart the opera- 
tion of the laws of trade and Philadelphia is as much 
the Metropolitan city of Delaware, as of the neigh- 
boring counties of Pennsylvania. 

With these facts unalterably established, it must 
be that slavery in this State is doomed. We have 
no material interest to the prosperity of which it con- 
tributes. The gradual assimilation constantly going 
on, must work out its extinction. The period may 
be longer or shorter, but the result is inevitable, de- 
spite the struggles of those who would perpetuate it, 
as a social institution or a political machine. 

I know that, in a State in which slavery has been 
long established, with the habits and prejudices of 
the people moulded by it, emancipation is a slow pro- 



19 

cess, and it will continue to exist long after it has 
ceased to be profitable. In the settlement of a new- 
country, where the people approach the formation of 
their organic law, free Irom the trammels of existing 
institutions, it is different and I do not hesitate in the 
opinion that if the question were now concerning the 
introduction of slavery into this State, the sentiment 
of the people would be largely against it. 

If this be true, there ought to be no valid reason 
why we should hesitate to do away with this exist- 
ing evil, more than to bar the door against its intro- 
duction. Unfortunately, mere politicians are habitu- 
ally timid and, looking at the result of the next elec- 
tion, they resist the agitation of any new question, no 
matter how important to the interests of the people, 
which can, by possibiHty, run counter to the prejudices 
of those who hold the balance of power and, by insists 
ing wpon the acquiescence of the majority, subordi- 
nate the welfare of the State to the success of a politi- 
cal organization, which, in the end, redounds to the 
benefit of a few individuals, leaving the mass of the 
community to suffer for their advantage. 

I submit whether this is not the only cause why 
the State of Delaware has not heretofore freed herself 
from slavery, long felt as an incubus upon her pros- 
perity. 

Now that there is a disposition to disregard the ties 
of former ^^olitical associations, and men are searching 
for the true principles of government, it seems to me 
peculiarly meet to call the attention of the people to 
this subject, and relying upon their intelligence to 
appreciate aud finally to approve the suggestion, 
earnestly to recommend the adoption of such measures 
as will relieve them of a burthen that hinders their 
social and material advancement. 

Nor should there be any delicacy in the considera- 
tion of this question. It is a matter of merely muni- 
cipal regulation. The status of the negro, whether 



20 

bond or free, rests in the determination of the laws 
of the State of Delaware. That he is the subject of 
property here, is the result of our own local usage, 
liable to be altered, as any other common law custom, 
by the enactment of our own Legislature. No other 
authority has any jurisdiction over the matter. 
Others may suggest reasons — may offer ind ucements — 
but whether it shall be done, and the time and mode 
of doing it, are for our own people to decide, in view 
of all circumstances of benefit or injury. 

In the consideration of the subject, two questions 
are presented : The interest of the State — the rights 
of the master. 

If the State has any interest in favor of slavery, it 
can only be because that species of population is 
valuable as an element of labor. This is to be deter- 
mined by their number and the character of the 
labor they perform. 

The whole population of the State, as shewn by 
the last census, is 112,216. Of this number 90,589 
are whites and 21,627 negroes. Of the latter, 19,589 
are free and 1798 slaves, so that there is a total free 
population of 110,418 and 1798 slave. The latter 
are distributed amono; the several counties in the fol- 
lowing numbers : New Castle, 254 ; Kent, 203 ; Sus- 
sex, 1341 ; while the aggregate free population of 
New Castle is 54,543 ; Kent, 27,601 ; Sussex, 28,274 j 
being in New Castle, 1 slave to 175 free; Kent, 1 
slave to 131 free, and Sussex, 1 slave to 21 free ; and 
in the aggregate, 1 slave to 61 free persons in the 
State. 

This calculation is based upon the census enumera- 
tion, in which the slaves are counted as for life, 
whereas in fact a large portion are manumitted, to 
whom, under the laws of this State, the right to free- 
dom, according to the act of manumission, attaches, 
and who ouglit, therefore, for the purpose of this dis- 
cussion, to be considered, free — the question now 



21 

being, whetlier the State shall be declared free hy 
nil emancipation 150110,7, present or prospective — im- 
uiedicite or gradual. There are no means of ascertain- 
ing- with certainty how many are held as manumitted 
servants, but I do not think that one-third would be 
an over estimate, and the above figures should be cor- 
respondingly reduced. 

By our statute, the children of manumitted slaves, 
born after the act of manumission, are not slaves for 
life, but for a limited period only, and, therefore, the 
aggregate is subject to another abatement. 

Of the residue, a considerable number are children 
and decrepit persons, unable to work, and, in an in- 
quiry as to their productive value, are also to be de- 
ducted. 

It appears, then, that a very small proportion of 
the labor of the State is dependent upon the slave 
population. 

The kind ot labor they perform is merely agricul- 
tural and domestic and whatever may be the question 
as to the necessity of slave labor in the cotton States, 
no one will pretend that, in this State, there is any 
species of work that cannot be as well performed by a 
freeman as a slave — by a white man as a negro. 

If it can be, the sole question remains, will it be 
done as well. This is solved by determining whether 
paid or unpaid labor is best performed — whether wages 
are any incentive to the laborer — whether a man will 
work as well without pay as for it— and this, irrespec- 
tive of whetlier the laborer be white or black. 

I am not reduced to run a parallel between a free 
negro and a slave, but if I were, the general rule 
would be amply vindicated. 

But every slave does the work that a white man can 
perform, and if he were not a slave, the white man 
would have the chance to compete for the performance 
of the labor and for the receipt of the money that it 
requires to keep the slave. Being superior to the 



22 

negro, he would be preferred, but the master being 
compelled to maintain his slave, is forced to employ 
him, notwithstanding his labor is inferior. The white 
man is defrauded, because the slave performs the hibor 
which he ought to do and receives the pa}^, in his 
subsistence, that ought to go towards the comfortable 
support of him and his family. 

Such is the necessary quality of slavery, and where 
it most abounds, the lot of the laboring white man is 
the most miserable. 

The white race constitutes the State, and it is to . 
secure their interest that legislation should be pri- 
marily directed. It is not necessary to oppress any 
ether race, but surely it is not proper, specially to pro- 
tect a class of laborers, that, to the extent to 
which they obtain, effectually prevent the white man 
from procuring work. 

Legislation should also be directed to secure that 
system which offers the greatest inducements to immi- 
gration and which, by comparative analysis, has been 
found to open up the resources of the State. 
' What caused the immense wealth, increase and 
material developement of the free States ? In what, 
except slavery, did New York differ from Virginia, in 
which the advantage was not on the side of the latter ? 
Inferior in soil, in climate, in water power, in minerals, 
in harbors, in all the natural advantages that make 
up the raw material for improvement, why has the 
one State advanced, while the other has retrograded, 
in relative developement ? 

What prevents more rapid immigration into this 
State, and the consequent increase, not only of popu- 
lation, but of general improvement attendant upon it ? 
Nothing but the fact, that in institution — in education 
— in name, it is a slave State. There is a shrinking 
on the part of men, reared under free institutions, from 
contact with slavery. They are unwilling to bring 
up their children under its influence. I do not argue 



23 

whether this sentiment be right or wrong. I speak of 
it as a fact, established and admitted, preventing men 
coming iVom free States to settle among us. If it be 
desirable that they should come, to invest their capi- 
tal — to bring with them habits of industry and frugal- 
ity — to enrich the State, not only by their labor and 
example, but by stimulating additional immigration, 
ensuring diversified employment and creating addition- 
al demand for the products of the soil and therefore 
enhanced prices for the land, it would seem to be 
desirable to do away with the impediment that hin- 
ders this consummation, and if the hindrance be found 
ill the existence of slavery, to put it in the course of 
definite extinction. 

An objection is made to this policy, that it will 
turn loose upon society a large class of persons un- 
fitted for the enjoyment of freedom. 

This objection, it will be perceived, applies only to 
immediate emancipation, and in relation to that, is, to 
my mind, more specious than solid. 

We have, now, about 20,000 free negroes in this 
State. As an element of societ}'' they are not desira- 
blcj but I submit, that their sudden removal from the 
labor of the State would be highly inconvenient. 
Their gradual displacement and colonization, effecting a 
separation of the races and supplying their place with 
white labor, would be beneficial to both. This 20,000 
free negro element, is to the slave, as 11 to 1, and the 
emancipated slave population would quietly sink into 
and be absorbed by the great mass of free negroes and 
no man would recognize that another free negro had 
been added to the State. In fact, now, in all but 
name, the State is free. The difficulty is to make 
white men in other States understand our condition. 
There is no distinguishing badge by which a slave can 
be discerned from a free negro. He has all his actual 
privileges and immunities and, practically, no one can 
tell whether a negro is bond or free. The question 



24 

would be different if all the negroes in the State were 
slaves and the proposition were the conferring of free- 
dom upon one-fifth of our entire population, involving 
the instant destruction of an extensive domestic insti- 
tution and an immediate and radical change of rela- 
tion between the races. No such question is presented 
in this State. The large mass of the negro population 
are already free. There is no possibility of tiieir re- 
turn to bondage. The justice — tlie humanity of our 
people forbid it, and no sensible addition would be 
made by the immediate, not to say gradual, emanci- 
pation of the slaves. 

Another objection has been urged, that emancipa- 
tion, by inducing emigration from slave States, would 
produce a large accession to our free negro popula- 
tion. 

However plausible this apprehension in theory, its 
fallacy is apparent by the test of experience. 

I have collated the statistics of the relative in- 
crease of the whites and free negroes of Delaware, 
Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 

A careful survey of the table appended, will show 
that Pennsylvania has increased most rapidly iu 
white, and Maryland in free negro population. 

The result is attained, despite the fact, that the 
Southern boundary of Pennsylvania, through its en- 
tire extent, forms the division line between freedom 
and slavery and the common belief that New Jersey 
is the receptacle for a large proportion of the runaway 
slaves of Delaware and Maryland. 

The further gratifying result is shewn, that the re- 
lative increase of the white population is rajoidly and 
steadily augmenting. 

The negro is not a migratory being. He will, some- 
times, run from bondage. Like other men, he has 
aspirations for freedom. With no inducement to emi- 
grate, the free negro rarely leaves the place Avhere he 
was reared. His love qf locality is proverbial. Where 



25 

he was born, he dies. Those who leave their native 
vicinity, for the most part, congregate in neighboring 
citie§. Philadelphia contains nearly h-alf the free 
negroes of Pennsylvania. 

I pass by, as unworthy of notice, the suggestion of 
the probable establishment of the social and political 
equality of the races as a consequence of freedom. Such 
suggestion may be tolerable in a political canvass, in 
which the aspirant for popular favor plays upon the 
prejudice of the citizen to influence his vote, but it is 
unworthy of observation in a serious inquiry after 
truth. 

The negro is, and so long as he is among us, ought 
to remain, an inferior being, under tutelage, and as 
the whole matter of his status depends on the will of 
the white man, those who ascribe the design to ele- 
vate him to an equality, do but cast discredit upon 
their own understanding and insult upon the people 
of the State. He cannot be equal until the majority 
so decide, and when they shall have arrived at the 
point at which equality would be tolerated, the eman- 
cipation of 1800 slaves when there are already 20,000 
free negroes could make it none the more or less 
probable. 

Were the discussion of- such question admissible, 
upon an occasion like the present, I conceive that it 
would not be difficult to shew, that the evil to be ap- 
prehended, is not from the prevalence of the doctrine 
of emancipation and separation, but that, if it ever 
shall come, it will be the result of the teaching and 
practice of those, who, in defiance of the ordination of 
Providence in the dispersion of mankind, will con- 
tinue distinct races in juxtaposition and communica- 
tion with one another, until the choice between exter- 
mination and absorption shall be the only alternative. 

I pass now to the consideration of the rights of the 
master. Under the usage of this State, confirmed by 
positive enactments, he has to his slave, a right, not 

4 



26 

absolute, but qualified only, and therefore, even more 
than in things by nature the subject of dominion, he 
holds his right subordinate to the requirements of the 
public good. 

That this right is conditional, is sufficiently attested 
by the statutory provisions regulating the relation. 
The master is prohibited from dealing with him as 
an absolute article of merchandise. He cannot alien 
him beyond the jurisdiction of the State, which, re- 
garding him as a man, extends over him the protec- 
tion of the law, and by prohibitory enactments, re- 
gulating his sale, restricts his value to the limit of the 
home-market, thus studiously preventing, the State 
from being subjected to the policy of slave propaga- 
tion for exportation and removing the inducement to 
an indefinite extension of the system. 

This restriction on alienation — the judicial denial 
of the right of the free negro to hold his fellow in 
bondage — the criminal responsibility of the slave — all 
shew that under our laws he is regarded as something 
different from a mere chattel and that the nature of 
the right is modified by the attribute of humanity. 

In the pure sense of the term, he is not property. 
His condition is the legal determination of the status 
of a person, and in this sense, emancipation is no 
destruction of a right of property, but the abrogation 
of a municipal custom, upon the sanction of which 
alone, the right of the master depended. 

But still there is a right, in the nature of a right 
of property, and, to the extent to which it is recog- 
nised by our laws, is as sacred and inviolable as his 
right to any article absolutely proprietary. He can- 
not be deprived of it without compensation. 

I need not argue concerning the value of the labor 
to the owner. The considerations already presented 
in reference to the interest of the State are appli- 
cable to that of the master. 

I only offer to each slaveholder for solution, the 



27 

question, whether, economically considered, it is not 
cheaper to hire labor than to support his family of 
slaves, subject to the risk of sickness and other casu- 
alties and liabilities incident to ownership. 

Most of the slave owners in this State are land- 
owners also, and if it be true that the abrogation of 
the institution will increase the material prosperity 
'of the State, I submit to him, whether the value of 
his land may not be augmented to an extent much 
greater than the price of his slaves. 

I will not dwell upon the interest of the master as 
affected by the fugitive nature of the property. 
Against destruction by fire, insurance offices provide 
— against the straying of cattle, good fences are a suf- 
ficient security, but there is no insurance or safeguard 
against the loss of a slave determined to assert his 
right to freedom. 

There are but two modes by which the extinction 
of slavery can be accomplished. By direct emanci- 
pation or by the enactment of a law operative on 
after born issue, leaving the present property of the 
master unaffected. 

The former would of course, be upon compensation 
— the latter depriving him of no right, no compensa- 
tion would be proper. 

Compensation, if rendered, must probably come 
from the National Government. There is no likeli- 
hood that the State will tender it, though, I believe, 
that if she were to pay the home valuation for every 
slave within her limits, the sum expended would be 
more than re-imbursed by the increased value of the 
land. 

The State contains an area of somewhat more than 
2.000 square miles and 1.300.000 acres. Of these, 
according to the last census, 637.065 are improved, 
so that an advance of one dollar per acre on the im- 
proved land alone, would more than pay the value 
of all the slaves, manumitted and for life, young 



28 

and old, able bodied and decrepit, at 300 dollars per 
head. 

The Government, in this rebellion, founded upon 
and made effective by slavery, finds emancipation an 
object worthy of its attention, especially in the Bor- 
der States, where there exists an element of discon- 
tentment and sympathy with secession, kept alive 
by this institution. The Administration can do no 
act towards its suppression, but it jnust look carefully, 
lest, by possibility, slavery may be damaged by it. 
The horse of the rebel may be seized — his house may be 
occupied — his life, even, may be taken, and it excites 
comparatively little commiseration, but let a slave 
runaway from his owner and seek refug-e within the 
Union lines and a howl of indignation is raised over 
the refusal to surrender him to his disloyal master, 
that he ma)'- be emplo3^ed in digging entrenchments 
or raising bread-stuffs ±br the support of the rebellion. 

This state of feeling tends to the encouragement of 
the enemies of the United States — to the embarrass- 
ment of the Government and to the prolongation of 
the contest. 

In this view the President considers it cheaper, 
safer and more expeditious, to buy out the interest of 
the master and compensate the State for the incon- 
venience felt by the change of relation, thus break- 
ing the back-bone of rebellion in the Border and 
bringing a quasi neutral territory into active support 
of the Government. 

Should Congress concur in the recommendation of 
the Executive, and express a willingness to tender to 
this State fair reinuneration, I do not hesitate, as a 
beneficial measure, to advise its acceptance ; but as 
the measure of my own choice, I would prefer the 
enactment of a law, prospective in its operation, de- 
claring the freedom of the future issue of slaves. 

It will be observed that the foregoing remarks are 
confined to the condition of peaceful enfranchisement. 



29 

They do not apply to cliang-es incident to a revolu* 
tionary crisis, and especially not to a rebellion in 
which slaA'^ery has been thrust' forward as the chief 
instrument of its accomplishment. 

He who calculates that a Nation can be involved 
in a struggle like this, and that no practical results 
wiil follow victory or defeat, has read history to little 
purpose. It would be as reasonable to expect a hur- 
ricane to pass through the forest, without leaving the 
ground strewn with dead branches and sapless trunks, 
as that this tempest of civil war should sweep over 
the land and leave no memorial of its progress. 

The longer the contest is protracted, the more radi- 
cal will be the change wrought. 

That it may be shortened, should be the ardent 
supplication of every Christian, that it may end in 
the establishment of the integrity of the Union, the 
fervent prayer of every Patriot. I invoke the God of 
our fathers, that God of concord, who presided over 
their deliberations, when they laid the foundation of 
the Republic, to incline the hearts of our Southern 
brethren to peace and submission to the legally con- 
stituted rulers of the nation, but failing this, I pray 
that same God, who is also the God of battles, that 
he may grant victory upon victory to the Union 
arms, until every vestige of rebellion is swept from 
the land and the Flag of the United States — the' 
symbol of her sovereignty — shall again wave, in 
undisputed supremacy, over a free, united and 
prosperous people. 



RATIO OF INCREASE OF WHITES AND FREE NEGROES FROM 

1790 to 1860. 



Delaware. 




Pennsylvania. 




Whit: 


Free iV. 




White. 


Free JV. 


1790 to 1800 


7.64 


112.05 


1790 to 1800 


38.19 


122.74 


1800 to 1810 


11.05 


58.87 


1800 to 1810 


34.24 


54.46 


181'>tol820 


14 loss 135 loss 


1810 to 1820 


29.26 


34.27 


1820 to 18.:50 


4.19 


22.35 


1820 to 1830 


28.78 


2->.58 


18;0to 1840 


1.66 


6.71 


1 830 to 1 840 


27-95 


26.16 


1840 to 1 850 


21.52 


6.82 


1840 to 1850 


34.72 


12.06 


1850 to 1800 


27.28 


9.72 


1850 to 1860 


26.18 


6.01 


Maryland. 




New Jersey. 






White. 


Free N. 




Whue. 


Free N. 


1790 to 1800 


3.67 


143 52 


1790 to 1800 


77. 


122 


1800 to 1010 


8.68 


73.21 


1800 to 1810 


16.26 


78 16 


1810 to 1820 


10.67 


17.01 


1810 to 1820 


13.46 


58.86 


1820 to 1830 


11.86 


33.24 


1820 to 1830 


16.64 


46.89 


183't to 1840 


9.03 


17.26 


1830 to 1840 


17-09 


14 97 


1840 to 18-30 


31.34 


20.36 


1840 to 1850 


32.04 


13.14 


1850 to 1860 


23.14 


12.35 


1850 to 1860 


38.92 


6.33 



TOTAL POPULATION WHITE AND FREE NEGRO. 



Delaware. 
1790 
1860 


White. 
46.310 
90.589 


Free If. 

3.899 

19.942 


Maryland. 
1790 
1860 


White. 
208 649 
515.915 


Free y. 

8.043 

83.942 


Pennsylvania. 

1790 
1860 


White. 

424.099 

2.849.266 


Free N. 

6.537 

56.849 


New Jersey. 
1790 
1860 


White. 
169.954 
646.699 


Free N. 

2 762 

25.318 



H87 



0,1 -\ 



o V 



"•^^0^ 



> ^^> 






-ov^^ 






•:^ 













•<'-\ 

.^^r 









>., 



o . . - /\ ^ 



•y^-^^.^^ ^ 



^0^ 

5°^ 



JS/i;; 



^^ c^.;^$g*V^ "^..^ 






^^•^s^. 



V- . ' 'i^^ 

o^-*.yo' 0" V "•-•' y °^ *.%' .0-' 



, • * 




.c^ ■^-< 









o 


v^*: 




• • 


o 



v-^. '^^^^^ 



■ c'"^''' o^ ^^ 










0^ ••'■'•■• O. 



>' 



o * 










^-^^ 



^•^^.^ 



0"' ♦ 







'*V: "^ 







'?^, .« 






"* <^ 



^ 







•^ 

















»* . » • 



• • » ' ^0' "^ 



'^••- \/ ';?^M %.^^ 



> . 









A 9^ 







<^ 



■' *!<JeJii-C*. '^. 



-oV^ 



rv^ - * * 



s* .• 




™-*o. 









V'^^ 



--^^■^ 



r>. X^^P:^ ^^^ 






^^ .»'''* 






•J*-" o » "» ♦ %S> 









"^^ *'-•' v^"^ 






•*. ^ 






■^^.^ 



z;^- '*b-'^ 



^t. A 

























'V' 



^ 



%<^ 



